As I have openly admitted, I am just a bag-o-holic, but what is even better than a new bag?  A new bag that you bought on sale!  The nice people at Skooba Designhave given Jamm Readers a 20% discount on any purchase over $50, and free UPS Ground shipping in the continental USA.  All you need to do is enter the code TECHIE20 at checkout.  Easy to do, and it saves some cash.

Skooba Design has expanded their line of airport security friendly laptop bags.  The two new editions include a backpack and a case on wheels, which I affectionately call a ‘rolly’ bag.  I have the Skooba Checkthrough brief, and it is fabulous.  The construction is solid, and there are plenty of compartments for cables and all sorts of goodies.  With that said, I love these bags even more!  I prefer to either carry a backpack or use a rolly bag when I travel.  Both types of bags are easier on your back.  One contributes no weight at all, and the other distributes it more evenly.  So, if you need a bag, I would highly recommend one of these.

Skooba Adds Ultralight Backpack and Roller to Checkthrough® “Checkpoint-Friendly” Laptop Bag Collection

Rochester, NY, August 11, 2009—Skooba Design has again expanded its original Checkthrough® “checkpoint-friendly” laptop bag collection, with the addition of an ultralight backpack and a rolling laptop/business case. Checkthrough bags are specially designed and tested to pass through airport security x-ray screening without having to remove the computer. According to the company, its Checkthrough bags—developed in close coordination with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)—are the best-selling items in Skooba’s 10-year history, and the new styles are in response to significant customer demand for more and different versions of the product. The company has multiple patents pending on both current and future Checkthrough products, and also offers a broad range of checkpoint-friendly laptop skins.

At first glance, the Checkthrough Backpack looks like a standard, high-end business or travel backpack. But unlike traditional laptop packs, it opens and hinges in the middle to separate and isolate the laptop compartment from the rest of the bag. For initial, immediate visual reference, the laptop can be seen by the inspector through a clear window that is exposed when the bag is unfolded. With the window facing up, the bag is sent through X-ray screening. The design of the laptop compartment is such that the image presented to the screener is the same as if the laptop were removed and placed in a bin. The Checkthrough bag and all of its contents can be carried securely with or without the hinge zipped shut, so it can be readied in line, prior to screening. Once through, the traveler can simply pick up the bag and go, zipping it back up on the move or at the gate.

The new Checkthrough Roller works the same way as the backpack, with a hinged laptop compartment and preview window. It glides on urethane skate wheels mounted to aluminum wheel guard brackets, pulled along by a heavy-duty retractable handle. Skooba says that the roller is among the lightest rolling cases in its category, capacity and feature-set, and that it fits in all major airline storage spaces. Yet the case has room for a large stack of files and papers, or even an overnight’s worth of clothing and travel necessities.

Both the backpack and roller feature durable, weather-repellant ballistic exterior fabric, nickel-finished hardware, Doc Pocket™ organizers for airline tickets and passport, clear zippered pouches for allowable liquids, and many other travel-friendly features. Plenty of pockets—20 in the backpack and 18 in the Roller—organize gadgets, accessories and other small items.

According to Skooba spokesperson Lorri Diggory, faster screening is only one benefit of the Checkthrough product family—keeping the laptop in the bag also helps prevent damage, as well as minimizing the possibility that the laptop will be one of the 60,000 laptops estimated to be lost or stolen in airports each year.

The new Checkthrough Backpack and Roller is available now, at suggested retail prices of $129.95 and $189.95, respectively. Full specs and dealer/ordering  information at www.skoobadesign.com.

ageye has just released G-Race, a complex stopwatch program for Windows Mobile Professional.  The program, intended to provide support for timing multiple items at once, looks to be very interesting, though maybe a bit specialized.  If you have need for timing multiple items at once, perhaps timing the laps while at the track or the students racing in track practice, G-Race might just be worth looking at.  The program is available here for 4.99 Euro, which will translate into approximately $7.50.  See below for the full press release.

G-Race is your stopwatch for professional needs.

It is especially designed to simply measure multiple times
within a very short time frame. Of course, G-Race is not
only limited to racing - Teachers, trainer, fans can compare
their athletes most accurate with their opponents at sports
like swimming, running, cycle racing, etc. 

Simply try the full-featured trial version for 14 days and
get convinced by the simplicity of G-Race.

VITO Technology has announced the release of Task2Gather 3 for iPhone.  Task2Gather focuses on providing support for tasks management on the iPhone, providing an interface for working with projects spanning multiple users.  The tasks can be synced with the online counterpart or with the Windows Mobile version of the program. Version 3 of Task2Gather provides support for push notifications, while the phone is on or off.  Please see the full press release below.

Task2Gather for iPhone now supports Push!

Collaborate with your co-workers, family and friends on the go!

August 10th 2009, VITO Technology is proud to present new Task2Gather 3.0 for iPhone. The new version supports Push notifications on iPhone and iPod with 3.0 OS. Get live alerts from work or your family to be always on top of everything. Besides this great piece of news we’d like to announce that Task2Gather project turns ONE year old since it was released for the public!

Task2Gather for iPhone now has:

PUSH for New Items:

Get an instant notification when a change appears on your list item. Accept it and read straight away or keep it on the display as unread. The number of new tasks will accumulate to keep reminding you.

PUSH for New Comments:

See, read and answer any new comments directed to you or to your projects straightaway, start a seamless conversation in the comments area with your colleagues and track their thoughts.

T2G is a great Collaborative Tool:

Free desktop client, offline and online mode. It works as a standalone application or seamlessly synchronized with http://task2gather.com. All your tasks will be available everywhere at anytime.

T2G has great Sharing Options (on the go and on the web):

It gathers all your personal, family, and business tasks that will be shared between all your colleagues or family members no matter whether they are using a desktop PC, the iPhones or a Windows Mobile device. Use it as a todo list for daily errands, reminders for your kids, wife or husband.

Task2Gather supports English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, and Russian. It is available for $2.99 at AppStore.

We are going to quickly tackle two apps in one tonight.  I was planning to bring you a look at SplashData’s SplashID, the only secure information manager available for the Palm Pre.  Unfortunately, I had terrible problems with SplashID on the Palm Pre and could not get it to load at all.  Every time opened it, it froze.  I know others have had much more success with this program, and I have enjoyed it on other platforms, but it just would not work on my Palm Pre.  So, that is all I have to say about this one.  If you have used SplashID on your Palm Pre, then write into the comments and let me know what you think.  In the meantime, let’s take a look at the first of several location based programs, Good Food.

Good Food, as you might expect, uses your GPS to help you locate restaurants.  Just open the program, and it will immediately access your GPS and start searching for your location.  It will then provide you with a map (powered by Google maps) showing the locations of all the nearby restaurants.

If you prefer, you can also switch into List View, where you will find the full name and address of each restaurant.

Just tap any restaurant from either view in order to find more information.  From here, you can find a map showing the location of the restaurant.  You can even use Google Maps in order to find complete directions from your current location, though not turn-by-turn directions.

You can also add details, and even leave recommendations.   The recommendations screen is pretty cool, because it is designed to look like a tab sheet from a diner.  Nice Touch.  Anything you type here will be loaded into the online database, and can be viewed by other users.  This was a  nice social touch, and a great way to quickly and easily get numerous opinions, some of which might even be helpful.

Finally, if you are looking for something specific, then you can filter the search by type of restaurant, and even by price range.  It would be nice if you could set the distance to be searched or change the number of results to be displayed, and I do hope such refinements make it into a future version.